Over the past few days, security researchers from Palo Alto Networks discovered that 39 apps infected with malware found their way into the Apple App Store in China. Since the news broke, the malicious apps have been pulled from the App Store— and we’ve had a few questions about what this might mean for 1Password and password managers in general. To put your mind (and your passwords!) at ease, we’re answering some of the most common questions and concerns that iOS users have had about malware, compromised apps, and the security of 1Password.

So wait… what happened? How did this get in the App Store?

It’s kind of a long story, but we’ll make it short. In software development, there are many, many tools that can be used to build an app, and iOS developers rely on a compiler called Xcode as part of that process. A compromised version of that compiler made its way to the web in China, and was downloaded from an untrusted source. In this case, all apps built using the malicious compiler, XcodeGhost, were modified to sneak malicious code into the App Store. Though Apple works to review and screen apps for malware before they reach the App Store, in this case Apple confirmed that the attackers were able to make it through the review process without raising any red flags.

What does this malware do?

In general, most malware is designed to capture personal information and/or user credentials, and send them back home to the attacker who compromised your device. While XcodeGhost does not directly affect the 1Password application, it indirectly affects those who use the application through your device’s clipboard. In a post outlining the malware’s capabilities, senior malware researcher Claud Xaio noted that this particular strain could:

Prompt a fake alert dialog to phish user credentials

Hijack opening specific URLs based on their scheme, which could allow for exploitation of vulnerabilities in the iOS system or other iOS apps

Read and write data in the user’s clipboard, which could be used to read the user’s password if that password is copied from a password management tool.

Additionally, according to one developer’s report, XcodeGhost has already launched phishing attacks to prompt a dialog asking victims to input their iCloud passwords.

Should I be worried? Does this affect me?

There are a few very specific factors that determine whether your device is at risk, but overall, this vulnerability is a rare occurrence for the App Store.

At present, this issue mostly affects devices using the Chinese App Store, though researchers have found compromised apps in the Canadian App Store as well.

The malware is only in applications built using a compromised code compiler. A list of affected apps can be found on the Palo Alto Networks blog, but security researchers believe that as many as 344 apps may be vulnerable to the attack.

Will 1Password protect my data if an app on my iPhone or iPad has been infected by XcodeGhost?

We have designed 1Password with your privacy in mind at all times. We use strong, reliable encryption and take many, many measures to make our application breach-resistant. Combined, the many layers of security we’ve implemented work together to secure your passwords and protect your most sensitive data— but if your device has been compromised, there’s almost nothing that 1Password can do to defend it. As previously stated in a post on malware by Jeffrey Goldberg, our Chief Defender Against the Dark Arts:

I have said it before, and I’ll say it again: 1Password […] cannot provide complete protection against a compromised operating system. There is a saying […] “Once an attacker has broken into your computer […], it is no longer your computer.” So in principle, there is nothing that 1Password can do to protect you if your computer is compromised.

Eek! My phone is infected with this— what should I do?!

First (and most importantly): don’t panic! There are a few simple things you can do to to return things to normal. If you’re positive that you’re using an app that was affected, here’s what you can do immediately to protect your data:

Delete the compromised app(s) from your phone. If you are uncertain about whether an app has been compromised, it’s okay to delete it out of an abundance of caution.

Change any passwords that you think may have been compromised through your device’s clipboard. Any passwords that you may have accessed through the 1Password extension are safe from this strain of malware, and do not need to be changed.

Avoid redownloading or reinstalling any of the compromised apps until they have been updated. When an update has been released, be sure to download it from a trusted source once the developer has officially confirmed that a new, secure version is ready for you to use. If you’re uncertain of this, you can visit the developer’s site or check with their support team for help.

The XcodeGhost vulnerability doesn’t directly affect 1Password— we have not used the malicious version of Xcode, and the malware it injects into applications was not designed to directly compromise or target our application. Though the malware in compromised apps on any platform has the potential to put any user’s credentials at risk, especially when it can access a device’s clipboard, all technology users benefit from the work security researchers do to find vulnerabilities like this.

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Does per-app sandboxing in iOS help in this scenario? I thought that even completely malicious apps were limited as to what they can do, and when they do certain things, they have to ask you. So I would have thought a malicious app couldn’t steal private photos unless you said “Yes” when it asked to access your camera roll. And I would have thought that a malicious app could never read the data stored in other apps, data outside the app’s silo.

I love 1Password, but always have wondered: What are the protections against a malicious 1password build being submitted to the app store? If Agilebits is compromised? Or the submission process is hacked?